Sharing 5 uplifting European autism flicks in my latest film club bonus post. Have you seen any of these...? #filmsky

Following the threads from... 'Ben X'

5 European films about autism to make you smile

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I’m getting the team together for my new film and trying to be much more intentional about it than I was on my debut feature doc. If you know any Indigenous American doc directors/producers do send them my way. Ditto great female animators/sound designers 🙏🏻 #filmsky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

Who You Make a Film With Matters

Reflections on finding the right collaborators for my nuclear colonialism short doc

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Pretty chuffed with today’s charity shop haul of vintage Ladybird books. But even happier with the original Blue Peter Bring & Buy sale sticker. All the 1980s childhood nostalgic feels 😍😄

Sideshow freaks, fire-eating politicians & a sizeable cadre of clowns... it's The Plutonium Circus! And you can read all about it in my freshly unpaywalled deep dive into this darkly comic nuclear weapons doc. My 4th July treat for y'all 🇺🇸⚛️😄 vickilesley.substack.com/p/10-things-... #filmsky #nukesky

10 Things to Know About... 'The Plutonium Circus'

The sharp-eyed indie doc that turned 'Bomb City', Texas, final resting place of America's nuclear arsenal, into thought-provoking - and hilarious - cinema

vickilesley.substack.com

Some folks call this movie Belgium’s answer to Donnie Darko. Has anyone here seen it?? Would love to talk about the shock ending (though no spoilers obvs!) #filmsky #autism #bullying

‘Ben X’ (2007): truth, lies & reality blur in July’s autism film club pick

A bullied teen spirals towards the 'endgame' in this dark & dizzying Belgian psychological cyber-thriller

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Sharing the books I'm reading about the history of British nuclear colonialism on Western Shoshone land for my new short documentary. Plus, a bout of comparisonitis... #nukesky #filmsky vickilesley.substack.com/p/comparison...

Comparison (or, am I still a filmmaker?) REDUX

An update on an old post, plus my current nuclear colonialism reading pile

vickilesley.substack.com

NEIS Night with the Experts presents physicist, activist & performance artist Lynda Williams: “The Puke on Nukes: From Exposing NRC and DOE Deregulation to Techno Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear” June 25, 8pm EST / 7pm CST / 5pm PST / 2pm HST Info: tinyurl.com/PukeOnNukes #NoNukes #NukePuke

Any fans of Cinéma Vérité & the French New Wave out there? You should defo check out this fascinating & largely forgotten 1970s French doc about a radical commune for non-speaking autistic kids in the Cevennes. Slow, a little strange & VERY thought-provoking… #filmsky substack.com/@vickilesley...

'Ce gamin, là' (1976): the pioneering autism documentary you've never heard of

Defying late-’60s psychiatric orthodoxy with communal living & wordless wanderings at a radical care community for “incurables” in a remote village in the Cévennes

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A first dispatch about my next nuclear documentary film - on Britain's hidden nuclear colonialism on Native American land #nukesky #filmsky vickilesley.substack.com/p/the-nuclea...

Making the invisible visible

Early thoughts and notes on some of the challenges of tackling Britain's forgotten nuclear colonialism in Nevada in my new documentary film

vickilesley.substack.com

A few thoughts on the way home from @cantkillthespirit.bsky.social - a wonderful play I saw today about a Greenham woman whose activist spirit is reawakened in the climate movement 40 years on. One more performance tomorrow if you’re anywhere near Brighton #brightonfringe #greenhamcommon #protest

Seen Barfi! ? Why not watch one of these goodies next… #filmsky vickilesley.substack.com/p/following-...

Following the threads from... 'Barfi!'

5 more movie treats, from Bollywood to Buster Keaton

vickilesley.substack.com

Join From Greenham to Nevada for their next online event looking at the relationship between Britain's nuclear history, colonialism, and big tech. 📆 Wednesday, 13 May ⏲️ 7:00-8:30pm (UK) Register: cnduk.org/events/from-...

Last call for tonight’s essential webinar to hear about the past & present legacy of British nuclear colonialism on Western Shoshone tribal land #nukesky from-bombs-to-data-centres.eventbrite.co.uk

Sobering stuff about the secretive & unaccountable surveillance activities happening in Yorkshire… www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTsi...

Bradford City of Climate Culture - Accountability for Menwith Hill US Spy Base

YouTube video by Bradford 2025 City of Climate Culture

youtube.com

So I forgot to tell anyone I was in the Washington Post! Guess I was just too busy listening to podcasts ha ha! Seriously though, this raised a lot of questions I'd not really considered before. Anyone else spend hours a day listening to other people's voices? www.washingtonpost.com/home/2026/04...

Why we can’t sit alone with our thoughts anymore

A survey shows Americans listen to nearly four hours of audio a day. There are good reasons to take breaks and be comfortable with silence, experts say.

washingtonpost.com

Have you seen this month’s Film Thread autism season pick, Barfi!…? I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have. Did you cry as much as me when Shruti let the deaf Barfi know the love of his life was calling out for him?? And how much did it make you wanna take a train trip in Darjeeling! ❤️ #filmsky

Another great webinar with an atomic flavour happening next week, with an impressive lineup of authors who've grappled with the human & political legacy of the world's worst nuclear disaster. I've just snapped up my own ticket, maybe see you there? #nukesky uncoverliverpool.com/events/wowfe...

#nukesky For folks following the Savannah River Site/ plutonium pit production/ the $25 billion+ nuclear boondoggle in rural South Carolina, I highly suggest Jillian Magtoto's reporting. Great new article about what that $25 billion building looks like inside www.savannahnow.com/story/news/e...

The first—and maybe last—peek inside a plutonium pit facility

Watchdogs get rare inside look at MOX-to-pit facility, raising concerns over costly delays, redesigns, and readiness for plutonium production by 2030

savannahnow.com

@roxana-pessoa.bsky.social

Vicki Lesley@vickilesley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Honoured to be taking part in this webinar, a rare opportunity for UK campaigners to hear direct from the Western Shoshone about the toxic ongoing legacy of British nuclear tests in Nevada, with new updates on contamination & the connection to AI #nukesky from-bombs-to-data-centres.eventbrite.co.uk

Hugely enjoyed watching & learning the story behind this uplifting Bollywood rom-com that genuinely centres its autistic & disabled leads AND channels the spirit of Buster Keaton & Charlie Chaplin ❤️ A lovely Sunday watch if you’re in a movie kinda mood #filmsky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

Barfi! (2012): The Film Thread autism season goes Bollywood

Darjeeling delight & love beyond words in this affirming period Hindi rom-com about a deaf-mute mischief-maker and his autistic soulmate

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💬 "I looked up some pictures of Greenham a few weeks ago. It’s very peaceful now, the silos sleeping under grass and the fence replaced by trees, and I thought, we did that." Yes Liz, you did. Read Liz gray's incredible story of her time at Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp here ➡️ buff.ly/3mXVXDK

Honoured to be taking part in this webinar, a rare opportunity for UK campaigners to hear direct from the Western Shoshone about the toxic ongoing legacy of British nuclear tests in Nevada, with new updates on contamination & the connection to AI #nukesky from-bombs-to-data-centres.eventbrite.co.uk

Watching the HBO show Chernobyl today, and i cannot believe it came out 7 years ago? It felt like not too long ago. Covid19 (lockdown + Long Covid) has warped my sense of time so much

Maaike@maaikeverbruggen.bsky.social · 3mo ago

40th anniversary of Chernobyl today! Time to celebrate and day drink in the sun

Raspad, the Chernobyl film I’ve posted about today, prominently features the Eastern bloc version of the Tour de France which rode through Kiev in the days after the disaster. It’s a strange feeling thinking of that race as I sit watching Liege-Bastogne-Liege while reading today’s news headlines…

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster I’ve re-posted my film club essay from last year about the rarely-seem Ukrainian film Raspad, shot just 3 years later as the Soviet Union was crumbling. It’s a *great* film if you don’t know it open.substack.com/pub/vickiles... #filmsky #nukesky

Chernobyl at Forty: 10 Things to Know About.. 'Raspad' (1990)

A deep dive into Ukrainian director Mikhail Belikov’s rarely-seen Soviet-era movie about Chernobyl, to mark the 40th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster

open.substack.com

This is so fascinating: an article from the British girls and young woman's magazine Just Seventeen about a 1985 visit to the peace camp at Greenham Common.

Vicki Lesley@vickilesley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A belated follow up to this - just read a Substack post that included a scan of an in-depth report from Greenham Common in Just 17! You can find it here if you’re interested open.substack.com/pub/wendyvar...

Hugely enjoyed this conversation with @eanstruther.bsky.social about her brand new novel Fallout open.substack.com/pub/vickiles... #nukesky

FALLOUT - the first Greenham Common novel | Live with Vicki Lesley & Eleanor Anstruther

A recording from Vicki Lesley's live video

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What a discovery! So fascinating. Where is the modern equivalent of this I wonder..?

Malcolm Craig@malcolmcraig.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I never knew - until this morning - that Robert C. O'Brien's post-apocalyptic novel Z for Zacharia was serialised from February to April 1976 in the popular British girls magazine Jackie. Every day is indeed a school day.

Brilliant discussion with film writer & antiques dealer Luke Honey on the once-seen-never-forgotten movie experience that is The Draughtsman's Contract. Is the whole thing just one big extravagant tease by #petergreenaway...? #filmsky #moviesky

The Draughtsman's Contract | Live with Vicki Lesley & Luke Honey

Watch now | A recording from Vicki & Luke's live video discussing Peter Greenaway's brilliant, bawdy & at times totally baffling 1982 country house murder mystery

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Do you hanker for some arch 17th century wit (and wigs) to accompany your lunchtime sandwich? 😄Then come join me & film buff/antiques expert Luke Honey live on Substack on Monday when we'll be discussing Peter Greenaway's flamboyant 1982 masterpiece The Draughtsman's Contract #filmsky #moviesky